Silent Sparks
by Current.Obsession
Summary: When a war breaks out, Gilbert and a little group of friends of his help prisoners escape. But when Gilbert gets one prisoner with a silly curl out, a series of events makes his path lead straight to his brother, who's making these prisoners die. Warnings: M for adult themes and violence. Serious AU. Human names used. Renewed; chapters revised.
1. A Savior

Roderich sat in the small, damp little cell, alone with his thoughts. In fact, he had been there for days. Weeks. Possibly months, but he had no way to keep track of time. He had been stuck in this god awful prison camp for what seemed like forever, forced into captivity by that damn bastard he once had respect for. Now he was stuck here, waiting for a much needed rescue. If anyone would actually dare to come after him, they didn't know. He wasn't sure if he could take the interrogation sessions anymore, but he would still never tell anything he knew. He was no traitor. The large iron door of his cell opened with a loud, unpleasant creak and Roderich looked up, only to be blinded by light he had not seen in ages.

An albino looked around a bit nervously once he had opened the door to the cell his brother had made for his prisoners. He eyed the one prisoner with the silly curl curiously, shoving the keys he used to open the door in his pocket. "You," he pointed to the prisoner. "Come on. Let's go."

Roderich bit his lip, immediately frightened. "No... No more, please." He begged, scooting back into the corner of the room. "I- I can't... Not anymore, I can't take it anymore." His body began to shake and his eyes grew wide, staring at the albino through cracked glasses.

The man growled softly and looked over his shoulder before moving closer to him. "Get up, now," he ordered quietly, glancing behind him again. "If you don't get up, you won't be safe, _dummkopf_."

"W-was?" He asked, shakily standing up, clutching his wounded side with a bloodied hand. "I don't understand..." He whispered, confused.

"Mutiny, basically. I'm not working with my brüder any more. Now come on..!" He murmured coldly, checking behind him again, holding out a hand for him impatiently. Roderich took his hand, smiling ever so slightly. This could be his chance to get out. He said nothing, only weakly walking closer to the man.

The white-haired man glared and held onto the other's hand tensely, poking his head outside of the cell to check for anyone before turning to the brunette. "You... Whatever your name is... Act like you're working with my brother. Don't limp or hold your side. I'll help you with that later," he nodded to him.

"Right." He also nodded, grimacing as he forced himself to stand up right and put weight on his bad leg. He tried to get a better look at the albino, but his damaged glasses barely allowed it. He held onto the other's hand tight, deciding that he would probably end up guiding him for the most part.

"And if you're gonna hold my hand make it look like you aren't." he hissed quietly before taking the broken glasses off of his face and holding them in another hand before stepping out carefully, looking around slowly and shutting the door behind them and leading him toward his own tent slowly, kind of casually- looking.

Roderich forced himself to remain silent as he walked as casually as possible on his cracked ankle. Though he tried, every now and again a small sound would escape, in which he would seal his lips shut. Some of the other soldiers gave them weird looks, but he never made full eye contact. Maybe they would just assume he had just come back from a battle of some sort. He squinted his eyes, the whole world somewhat blurry without his glasses.

When they made it to the albino's tent, he guided him inside and onto the little cot he had as a bed and turned to close the entrance up tightly and looked back at him before going to grab some different clothes for the Austrian. "What _is _your name, anyway?" he asked gently as he brought the clothes over to him, kneeling down in front of him and unbuttoning the clothes the brunette was wearing for him.

The Austrian held his eyes closed for a while, waiting for the pain in his ankle to pass. When he reopened them, he saw the Prussian beside him and looked up at him. "...Roderich. And you are...?" He asked, voice still raspy but more relaxed than it had been in the cell.

"Gilbert.." he muttered, his eyes on his hands as he undressed the other quickly, tossing his coat and shirt aside and grabbing some medical stuff he had stashed away, starting to clean his wound gently, glancing at the tent entrance nervously every now and then.

Surprisingly, despite the sting from Gilbert cleaning his wound, Roderich stayed completely still. "Just out of curiosity," He stated, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "I thought I heard you say something about not working with your brother earlier. Might I ask who your brother is?"

Gilbert paused quickly, glancing up at him. "He's... He's the one who's helping with.. This whole war... Ludwig Beilschmidt…" He sighed gently, thinking about how much he hated what Ludwig was doing, and by doing so, he knowingly put his own love in a cell. The Prussian knew then that he'd gone far enough and started the idea of their rebellion. "The one who put you in a cell, along with everyone else." At the last two words, he felt a stab of pain at his heart, thinking about the oh-so sweet and adorable girl he was courting, Felicia, who is now dead because of Ludwig… Because he put her in that damn cell…

The Austrian's eyes grew wide. "But... But what if he catches you? He'll kill you!" He almost shouted, getting worked up about the safety of the man who saved him for a reason he didn't quite understand.

"It won't matter, I'm not the only one doing this." he rolled his eyes and finished cleaning his wound and started to bandage it with a small sigh. "He's gone too far, I'm only worrying about those he's imprisoned."

"What are you going to do? Set them all free? Where will they go? This entire area is covered with guards and soldiers. If I'm spotted trying to leave, I'll be shot on the spot."

"Not if I'm escorting you, dummkopf. Or if you're dressed like a soldier, or someone like me." he nodded toward the clothes he set out for him. "It's not like we have fifty people being let out at once. We're doing it slowly so they won't notice. And they're all disguised or escorted."

"We're escorting them to another country, or, at least, near the border of Germany," he added quietly.

"I can't thank you enough for this. It's brutal what they are doing to people here." He muttered, keeping his weak gaze fixed on Gilbert.

"I know..." he sighed again, looking over his shoulder quickly and grabbing the outfit he set out. "Help me put this on you," he mumbled, wanting to stop thinking about what they were doing.

Roderich sat up with effort and took the shirt and jacket of the uniform, pulling it up onto his shoulders carefully. He tried to ignore any feeling of embarrassment he felt from this, but he still felt rather useless. "How much time do we have?" He asked, vision blurring even more now that the adrenaline was calming down and the dehydration and starvation was setting in.

Gilbert shook his head gently. "Calm down.. You can't leave yet..." he sighed, buttoning his shirt up and grabbing the overcoat and helping him put it on. "You're going to have to act like a soldier for a few days so that they don't see a random stranger that looks like one of _them_ leaving." he frowned. "You can bunker with me during that time, _schon gut_?"

Looking disappointed, Roderich nodded. The more time he had to spend in this god awful place, the worse. But... At least he had someone like Gilbert to help him though it. There was just something about him, besides the fact that he saved him, that made Roderich feel safer around him.

Gilbert glanced up at his face and frowned. "_Entschuldigung_... I know you want to get out quickly.. I wish you could too... But it's just not that easy..." he sighed as he finished putting the clean overcoat on him and looked at him carefully- he looked good enough to pass as a soldier, with washing his face and fixing his hair. "Your ankle hurt?"

"Like hell." He said flatly, smiling slightly as if he had said a joke. At least the new clothes where more comfortable.

Gilbert chuckled softly at his smile. "You're lucky I was awesomely trained by a medical professional." he smirked up at him and pushed his pants up his leg, feeling both of his ankles gently.

Roderich flinched when Gilbert made contact with his right ankle, making a small painful noise. "I'm pretty sure the bone is cracked. It happened when I was struck with one of their guns for being 'too loud', so I doubt that it's just sprained. After walking on it, I'm sure it's bruised though,"

Gilbert examined it for a moment, prodding at the ankle with little apologies coming from his lips. After another moment, he paused and looked up at the Austrian. "No, "I'm pretty sure it's just barely worse than a sprain, but not too bad, though you were right, it is bruising." he mumbled, looking back down at his ankle and grabbing an ace wrap. The brunette really didn't know pain if he was complaining abut that.

He sat in silence as Gilbert worked, happy that he was being careful not to injure him. "So what are you going to do if he catches you?" Hopefully Gilbert knew what he was talking about.

Gilbert was silent for a moment, swallowing before he spoke reluctantly. "Vash, Mathias, or Alfred will know, and set me free, and I can't help within this camp anymore." he muttered gently, checking over his shoulder again cautiously.

Roderich prayed that that wouldn't have to happen, because if it did, he feared that he wouldn't even be burdened with a cell. His brother was cruel enough; Gilbert would just end up dead before anyone could get to him. He cleared his thoughts and tried to relax. "I think I'm fine for right now." He said, smiling at Gilbert as he finished his work.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at him and frowned, getting up and glancing at the clock in his tent. "It's almost supper.. Want me to leave and get you something, or do you want to come out? Your choice, and it should be alright if you come with me, I fixed your ankle so that it stays still when you move."

"As much as I hate to admit it, it will probably be less suspicious if I go with you, that way they don't notice you with extra food." He sighed, standing up and trying to put some weight on his bad ankle. It felt better, but still hurt.

"You don't have to, but, whatever you say.." he moved closer to Roderich, offering a hand again. "If you're not walking, then balance your weight on your other leg." he mumbled, looking down at him.

Roderich took his hand, still not able to see well. "Right." He was going to have to depend on Gilbert to get him practically everywhere, and he was fine with that, but he was worried that if he might get separated at some point, what he would do to get back to safety.

Gilbert sighed gently and gripped Roderich's hand, smoothing the latter's hair back gently before walking outside carefully, pulling him toward the camp's eating area, which didn't exactly have the best food there, but had enough and was edible, so nobody complained. The white haired male led the other to the people who served the food and got their share, and moved away just as fast as they moved in. "You want to go back to the tent?" he glanced down at the brunette.

"Yeah. I think people are starting to notice me." He whispered, keeping his face downcast. On the way over, he had seen two of the soldiers that where in charge of most of his interrogations. One of them actually looked at Roderich, which scared the life out of him. He stayed close to Gilbert and wanted to get out of sight as soon a possible.

"You do realize if you get more people to notice you, and befriend more soldiers, the safer you'll be.." he mumbled, looking around for one of the other rebels that were helping prisoners.

"You're sure? He raised his head slightly, worry laced in his voice.

"I'm sure. We helped Vash's little sister outta here before, and a lot of the soldiers were simply upset when she was 'recruited to another site'. Pretty much the same thing with Antonio. Francis helped him out and he was awesome friends with everyone." he shrugged gently, spotting Alfred and Francis getting some food.

"... Alright." He murmured uneasily. He lifted his head back up to normal level, following Gilbert wherever he went. He didn't want to get separated from him.

Gilbert smiled down at him, nodding.


	2. Missing

Gilbert grinned as he made his way to Francis and Alfred two friends he spotted a moment after explaining to Roderich that talking to soldiers was a good thing, for the most part, who was also joined by Mathias and Vash when they got over there. Each of them, except Vash, had another person with them. Mathias had a blonde boy with a pin holding some of his bangs from his face with him, Francis had a boy with dusty blonde hair and thick eyebrows over green orbs with him, and Alfred had a dark haired Asian boy with shy, polite eyes with him. Gilbert smiled at them, and they smiled back.

"Hey! Where are you guys eating?" he asked Alfred, and the blonde pointed to a table near his own tent. "Right over there, dude." he smiled at the albino and the brunette he had with him. "Hi! I'm Alfred."

Roderich jumped slightly at the cheerfulness of the blue eyed blonde, or at least that's what he thought he saw. He smiled. "I-I'm Roderich. Nice to meet you." He said, looking at all of the others in the group. It was obvious who the prisoners where. He could tell by the light scars some of their faces and just their expressions in general. Some of them look more normal than others, but he could still see the missing light from their eyes.

Gilbert pointed to each of the people in the group as the others got their food, and he even pointed out all the prisoners too, telling him who was what ever so quietly. Once they all got their food they sat down at the table Alfred pointed out earlier, and Mathias and Alfred practically gobbled up their food when they sat down, and were finished way before the others, though Gilbert looked at Roderich when the others were talking to the prisoners that they saved, and back to his own meal, which was barely eaten. "If you want more, you can have mine." he smiled at the brunette kindly.

Roderich had eaten faster than he had ever before in his life. When Gilbert made the offer, he was surprised. "You're sure?" He asked quietly, not interrupting the other conversations at the table.

"I'm sure. I'm not very hungry, and, barely even edible or not, this food never goes to waste." he smiled and pushed the plate toward the Austrian carefully, shrugging as he watched him carefully.

"...Thanks." He smiled up to him, taking the plate and finishing it. Afterwards he felt much better and less dizzy. He paid attention to the conversations around him, finding himself smiling much more with each passing minute. This wasn't so bad. He didn't want to stay in this camp, but as long as he had these guys around, he felt safe.

Gilbert hadn't fallen into the conversations as easily as he usually would have, he was too preoccupied worrying over Roderich and how he'd get him through things with his injuries. Soon, Mathias and Alfred noticed, however, and when they noted the albino and the brunette's proximity, they started teasing Gilbert and Roderich to see if the Prussian would notice, which he didn't.

"So, did Gil choose you because he thought you were cute?"

"What did you guys do before dinner?"

"Whatch'ya gonna do when you get back to your tent?"

"Are you guys gonna sleep with each other and cuddle?"

They both shot questions at Roderich, grinning like teenage idiots, making Roderich narrow his eyes in annoyance, but a pink blush still showed on his cheeks. "Well, if you must know, he saved me from bleeding to out before dinner." It was an exaggeration to say the least, but maybe it would shut them up.

Gilbert was too lost in his thoughts to notice yet. "Aww, that's so _heroic_ of Gillybear. How would you repay him?" Mathias asked him, smirking, and Alfred had his head laid against the table, trying to stop laughing as Lukas and Kiku looked unbelievably bored, and Francis seemed to be harassing Arthur in the same manner Mathias and Alfred were to Roderich, but he was pairing himself with Arthur.

Well, his plan to shut them up didn't work. Now what was he supposed to do? His blush was growing stronger with the passing moments, and he had no idea what to do for a comeback. "By not being a prick, like you two right now."

"Oh, well, you'll realize that Gilbert kind of is too, soon. But he'll end up rubbing off on you," Alfred chortled at the innuendo Mathias made, while Mathias was poker-faced.

"..." Roderich was silent. He really was starting to get annoyed with these two idiots. He looked over two his side, and smirked when he saw the English prisoner smack the Frenchman in the forehead just enough to shoo him off. He snickered, trying his best to ignore the blondes across the table.

Roderich's snickering was something that drew Gilbert from his thoughts, though the other's teasing wasn't somehow. The albino looked down at the Austrian, cocking his head to the side, but before he could say anything, Alfred called Gilbert's attention to himself. "Roderich and us were talking... and Roderich was saying how he'd have to repay you for saving him, _if you know what I mea_-" he paused when Kiku tugged on his shirt.

"Alfred-san, it's not nice to lie about things like that," he chided the American, and even though he knew it was a lie because of Kiku, he blushed furiously.

"..._Sie sind ein idiot_ (**You are an idiot**)..."

Roderich turned his attention back to the others, who seemed to have quieted down. Gilbert seemed more focused, so he guessed that was good. "So, what do you guys do during the day?" He asked, sparking up a conversation.

Gilbert looked down at him, his cheeks still tinted with a blush. "Usually, we just keep watch, do as Ludwig says, and occasionally, come get people like you," Gilbert mumbled quietly. "Though I am usually doing more things for Ludwig than anyone else because I'm his brother..." he sighed gently, and glanced away, the table having a more serious feel about it.

Roderich frowned, not expecting the mood to change so fast. "Just be careful around him. You make one wrong move and we're all..." He stopped, looking around the table to see everyone look either upset or worried. "If any of us make the wrong move... We might not get out of here alive." He didn't mean to make the tension so dense among them, but it needed to be addressed. "Maybe we should get some rest. Or some of us, at least." He mumbled, standing up and making his way back to Gilbert's tent.

Gilbert looked at him for a moment as he left, and got up out of his seat, bidding everyone else a goodbye and hurrying after him. "Hey... What was that about..?" he asked quietly when he caught up to him.

"Sorry..."He said sadly. "I guess I'm just a little too cautious or something. I don't want to make anyone panic, so I figured I'd leave." He looked up to the slightly taller man, still with that same worried expression he'd had for most of the day.

Gilbert sighed gently and shrugged. "Well.. You don't have to be so cautious.. I've done this for a while. We know what we're doing..." he mumbled, his eyebrows pushed together worriedly. "And you kind'a freaked me out a bit there..."

"If you say so." He stood there for a long while in the silence before looking down. "Thanks again. For everything."

Gilbert shrugged and nodded. "Don't worry about it. It's cool." he gave him a little smile and wrapped an arm around the Austrian's shoulder.

Without another thought, Roderich wrapped both arms around the other. He held onto him as if he would be taken away if he let go.

Gilbert smiled and blushed slightly at the arm being wrapped around him. The feeling was so nostalgic; he remembered one of his ex girlfriend's doing that a very long time ago, though he broke up with her for this war…

Roderich didn't pull away for several seconds, and when he did, he didn't really want to. "Sorry." He muttered, hoping Gilbert didn't feel uncomfortable from all of that.

Gilbert shrugged, smiling softly still. "It's okay." They reached the tent and Gilbert removed his arm, pulling the entrance open for the Austrian. "You're sleeping on the cot, okay." He said it in a way that made Roderich not want to argue.

Roderich nodded and made his way to the cot, sitting down. "So, how many days until we can get out?"

"I'm not sure, just wait it out for a bit..." he sighed, shutting the entrance. "It shouldn't be that bad..."

"I'll take your word for it." He smiled. "I guess I should just try to stop thinking too hard about it." He said, pulling up his pant leg to check on his ankle.

"Yup. Don't worry. With me helping you out, it'll be awesome!" he grinned at him and got out an extra blanket for himself and laid it out on the ground, sitting on it.

Roderich lay down on the cot, closing his eyes. He hadn't realized how tired he really was until now. He laid a hand over his injured side, and before long his head rolled to the side, indicating he had fallen asleep. The first real sleep since any of this had started.

Gilbert smiled slightly and lay down after a while, closing his eyes and going to sleep quietly.

Roderich opened his eyes the next morning to the noise of the camp bustling around in the early hours. He groaned and tuned onto his side, arm falling off the cot and smacking Gilbert's hand with his own. Assuming it was the floor, he just went back to sleep. Gilbert snored and shifted, moving closer to Roderich's hand unconsciously. Roderich's eyes cracked open at the movement in turn, and in his daze of sleep he smiled and took Gilbert's hand. Had he been awake enough to realize what he was doing, this may have been more than a little awkward.

Gilbert mumbled something in his sleep then, shifting again and opening his eyes tiredly, looking up at him and squeezing his hand gently before shutting his eyes with a tiny smile and falling back asleep.

Awakened by the loud voice of a familiar person, Roderich groaned and buried his face in the pillow he was laying on and Gilbert groaned and sat up quickly. "Rise and shine, lovebirds! We've got work to do!" Matthias announced, smirked, and made his leave. Roderich had a bad feeling that Matthias and Alfred would continue joking about him and Gilbert for as long as possible.

Gilbert kept his eyes shut as he ruffled his white messy hair and sighed, taking a moment before opening his eyes and blinking at the light before looking at the brunette next to him silently.

"Morning." Roderich mumbled, not moving from his face down position other than moving his head to the side to look at Gilbert. All of his limbs where sore, especially his ankle. The fact that he knew this without even moving yet was just a warning for that, when he did move, it was going to hurt much worse.

"_Guten morgen (_**good morning**_)_..." Gilbert yawned, standing up, and glancing at him again before he turned to get some new clothes.

Roderich saw the Prussian make his way over to change, and figured he would give him some privacy. He buried his face back into the pillow, and before long found himself dozing off again.

Gilbert glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow when he was taking off his shirt. "Roderich. Roddy, get up, sleepy head.."

"I don't want to. Everything hurts." He groaned, face still in the pillow, feeling like a child but not really caring.

Gilbert sighed and moved over to him, his brows pushed together, laying a hand on his side. "Everything?"

He turned onto his side, looking up to Gilbert with tired eyes." For the most part. It's soreness, though. Not much else." He sighed. "But I guess staying here won't do me much good." He yawned and sat up, still looking at Gilbert with a small smile.

"Your ankle hurt?" He mumbled quietly, pulling the covers back to look at it gently.

"Yeah, but it's better." He lifted his ankle and pulled up his pant leg, allowing easier access to his injury. "I'll be okay."

Gilbert let his fingers poke and prod at his ankle gently after he unwrapped it, careful as he re-wrapped it afterward.

"Thanks." He smiled, putting his boots on and standing, wincing slightly from his ankle. He threw on the same clothes from yesterday, seeing he had only worn them for a few hours. He sighed, nervous about the upcoming day. "It's okay, you'll be fine. Just act natural and everything will be fine." He whispered to himself.

Gilbert overheard him when he continued to dress. "Just stay with anyone you met yesterday, if I'm gone. Otherwise, I'll be here for you, _ja _(**yes**)?"

He smiled more warmly now, walking up to Gilbert and hugging him again. "I know you will." He whispered.

Gilbert gave him a little crooked smile and hugged him back gently, nodding. "Yeah, I promise."

He pulled away, blushing slightly and headed out of the tent. Immediately he saw some members of their group out front and walked over to them. He got, as expected, a snicker from Alfred and a funny look from Matthias.

Gilbert yawned and followed the Austrian out, smirking at his little group. "What are you snickering about, asshat?" He asked Alfred as he mussed his white hair.

"Oh, it's nothin'~" Matthias chuckled, playfully elbowing Roderich in the side, not knowing about his injury. Roderich flinched, grabbing his side and clenching his teeth. "Yeah, that's still sore..." He said.

Gilbert growled under his breath and switched sides with Roderich, so that he was closer to Mathias, sending the Austrian a concerned look as he spoke to the others. "So what are we doing today, do you know?"

"As of right now, no." Alfred said, crossing his arms. "It's been fairly quiet today. No sign of Ludwig anywhere. Usually he would be out here for a least a little while, ordering us around. We where supposed to do another rescue today, but since we don't know where the boss is, we're not taking chances."

Gilbert nodded, his brow creasing. "Maybe I should go look for him.." He sighed, knowing he was the only one who'd have a good chance finding him.

Roderich looked to Gilbert, a look of worry on his face. Immediately he hid it, knowing that is was really the only option at the moment. Alfred also looked concerned, if even just slightly. "Alright, but be careful. We will keep a lookout for you until you get back, just for precaution."

"Got it." Gilbert nodded and took Roderich by the shoulders and moved him next to Vash, who was very quiet, and alone. "You stay with Vash, kay? He won't bug you like those guys." He jerked his chin in Alfred's and Mathias' direction, a little smirk on his lips. "I'll be back, I promise, okay? Just... Do as Vash tells you, and you'll be fine." Vash nodded to himself and Gilbert left after mussing Roderich's dark hair.

Roderich turned to Vash, who seemed to not be too much of a jolly person. "... Pleasure to meet you." As expected, Vash kept quiet. 'Well, this should be fun.' Roderich thought to himself. 'Hurry up, Gilbert...'


	3. History

**A/N: Ohai there. Erm. I made lots of changes to the previous chapters, so, you should probably go back and re-read them if you've read this story before March Eighth. :I Sorry for the inconvenience, though. But, please, enjoy this awfully short chapter. Reviews make me happy and love people, by the way. c:**

Gilbert found his brother just outside the camp, in a spot Ludwig liked to go when he was thinking.

The camp they were at was in the middle of a forest near the Danish border; it was in Glücksburg, actually – so that, anyone who tried to escape the camp would end up lost in the forest, and eventually meet a rocky, fatal fall into the ocean after coming to a little clearing with bright, new grass... and this happened to be where Ludwig was. Gilbert knew Ludwig liked coming here to think or clear his head, and knew creeping up on him wasn't the best idea, but glad there was a bit of space between the last few trees and the cliff. He stood there once he spotted his little brother sitting, knees pulled to his chest and his head resting on them, staring out at the ocean. The sun had just barely risen and gave the water a gleam that one couldn't see very often. Gilbert understood why his brother liked this spot – it was so pretty with its brand new grass and beautiful ocean view.

"_Brüder_," Gilbert watched his brother for a moment with a sigh before speaking, making the blonde lift his head and tilt his head toward his older brother.

"What do you want?" was the curt reply, the blonde not smiling or anything; his lips pressed into a firm line, as usual, nowadays.

The albino had wished he'd spent more time with his brother… Every now and then, he could get his brother to smile... and now there was barely any hope for that. "I wanted to check up on you. You were gone, so I decided, why not? I mean, I haven't seen you much anyway." He shrugged and moved closer, sitting next to him, very aware of the glare he was being given by baby blue eyes, keeping his red pair away.

"Okay. You did what you needed to then. I'm fine."

Gilbert sighed and bumped his shoulder against Ludwig's. "That is such a lie, stop it and tell me the truth."

Ludwig rolled his eyes as Gilbert glanced at him, and he looked back to the ocean, silent.

A moment of waiting went by, Gilbert's prodding gaze on his brother for a moment. "...Is it about Feli...?"

Ludwig stiffened a little at the question. "Don't talk about her," he hissed after a minute.

Gilbert sighed. "What'ch ya thinking about then?" he asked softly.

Ludwig swallowed and turned his cerulean eyes to his brother. "People have been disappearing, brüder, that's what I'm thinking about. And... And yes, I am thinking about Felicia." He grumbled, looking down. "I miss her."

Gilbert felt nervousness creep up on him at the first comment but decided to ignore it for a while. "I'm sorry... I wish I could've helped with that... She just…" he sighed, remembering the day she was hanged… Everyone deemed her useless for work and Boss decided she was useless as well. Despite Ludwig and Gilbert's efforts to stop the hanging, only a moment was delayed, when Ludwig ran up the stairs up to the gallows where she stood with the rope around her neck and the bag over her head. He'd torn the bag off of her head and kissed her… And he said something too, but Gilbert never asked.

"I didn't even… tell her I loved her…" he choked out quietly, closing his eyes. "I told her she'd be okay… a-and it was a complete lie…" he stopped there, going silent for a moment when his brother pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, brüder…" Gilbert sighed, letting a hand run along his back comfortingly. _In reality_, he thought, _Felicia would like him to stop all of this... for her…_

There it was. His reason to make Ludwig stop this.

Gilbert grimaced when he felt a bit of wetness land on his free hand. "Ludwig…" he mumbled softly, the name almost a little whimper.

Ludwig grimaced and pulled away, wiping at his eyes. "_Es tut mir leid…_" He swallowed and looked back at the ocean, his eyes rimmed in red.

"As I was saying…" he tried continuing, though his voice cracked. "…People… er… Prisoners have been escaping somehow…" he bit at his bottom lip. "We're going to check on them more often and bring more in," he muttered, looking down. "We'll also be investigating how they've been getting out."

An hour or two before lunch was served was when Gilbert hurried to find his little group, wanting to tell them what was going on as soon as he could, and he grabbed Roderich's shoulder gently when he found them. "No rescues today, guys..." He mumbled, looking at most of the blondes in the group.

"What happened?" Alfred asked, jogging over to the rest of the group from where he stood. Roderich looked up at him, worried. "Is everything okay?"

He shook his head slightly. "We can't get anyone out for awhile... He's checking the prisoners for a bit. We've been getting people out too quickly... They're beginning to notice.. And since he's noticing, he's gonna bring in more prisoners 'cause there's more room..." He reported as quickly as he could, looking from one face to another, saving the Austrian's for last, looking at him for a moment.

Roderich was horrified. "M-more... prisoners? He's going to bring in more people?" He asked, voice cracking at the end of his sentence. All of them looked upset, but the former captives where noticeably afraid. No one should ever have to go through the pain they went through.

"No." Said the blonde with the cross shaped hair clip. "We can't let him do that."

Gilbert gave Roderich's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I know we can't let him do that.." He mumbled, raking his hand through his white hair nervously. "We'll stop him," _I'll stop him_… He corrected himself mentally. _He is my brother after all_. "And if new people are brought in, we'll just have to keep getting some out.. But just think… Better they're in and out, like you guys, than in and then dying..." He muttered.

Roderich was silent for a while, no one breaking the long, dreary pause. Alfred stepped forward, in front of Gilbert. "I'm going with you. I'm going to help you end this." He stated, sounding like the bravest man in the world.

Matthias smirked, also stepping up. "I'm in." Kiku and Arthur stood beside them, all fear gone as if nothing had ever happened. Lukas finally stepped up along with Vash, both still not smiling as always.

Roderich looked to all of them, finding himself faced with a choice. After several moments, he had made up his mind. "... I guess that's all of us then."

Gilbert sighed and made a face. "No.. Nein, nein..." He protested. "You guys will all get hurt.. You guys can't... I'll be the only one who ends up ending it, you know..." He glared at them, shaking his head.

"But what if something happens to you?" Roderich asked.

Alfred nodded. "If something goes wrong and you end up captured or dead, we're going to have to find a way to get all of us out of here without raising suspicion Which, if Ludwig finds out, will raise the lookout for people trying to leave." There was a long dead silence after he finished before Matthias spoke up.

"No. We can fend for ourselves if something happens. This is Gilbert's choice, if he wants to go in alone then let him."

Gilbert looked at Mathias with a nod. "If anyone can stop Ludwig, it's me, only because he's my brother.. I know how to take him down, and you all know that's true." He sighed, glancing down at Roderich. "I know you guys could get out if I fail, you guys are strong.. You know how to handle this stuff.. And better yet, you three," he glanced at Mathias, Alfred, and Francis, "know how to make the best distractions and worm your way out of anything."

They hesitated but nodded after a moment and Roderich glanced away. "...Be careful, Gilbert..." he mumbled quietly and Gilbert sighed and came closer to him, looking at him seriously.

"Roderich..." he sighed, "I need _you _to be careful. I don't need to worry about myself. I'll be fine." He tried smiling at him, but it ended up being half-hearted and sad. Roderich bit his lip and hugged Gilbert again, and the albino hugged him back, too lost on his thoughts of what he was going to do to notice the chortling coming from behind him, and smirked when he pulled away and saw Roderich's blushing face with a smirk.


	4. Disappearance

Roderich waited.

Roderich waited all day with those bumbling, blonde idiots he called his friends.

A whole day of being teased without Gilbert there to make them shut the fuck up. A whole day of snide but suggestive comments about Roderich and Gilbert, as if they were together. Rude, horrible, emotionally terrifying and unthinkable things were brought up about the two. And of course, it all had the same message: _gay for Gilbert_.

He wasn't gay. Not at all.

Even if he's only had one girlfriend, and nobody else, he wasn't gay. Seriously.

Mathias was the main instigator during that day; Francis was busy fussing over Arthur and Kiku was trying to stop Alfred's teasing for Roderich, while Lukas could care less, so he did nothing at all about the teasing. Vash, as always, ignored all of it, and if he was brought into the conversation and it was meaningless, he'd snap at them like an angry, tired dog.

Gilbert didn't return for dinner, either. Roderich asked Vash about what he should do, like, stay in Gilbert's tent or go with him since he didn't have anyone else to care for, using the excuse that his ankle hurt. A lot. It did, really, but he didn't complain at all during the day. Vash had no idea of his injury and inquired on it, and made Roderich stay with him that night because he did have _some_ medical knowledge under his belt, though it wasn't as much as Gilbert's clearly.

Roderich agreed solemnly and went with Vash that night, worried about Gilbert still. Roderich woke the next morning to Vash shaking him awake. Roderich really must be worried if he dreamt of Gilbert all night…

Vash woke him up and checked on his ankle, before helping Roderich out of the tent, to where breakfast was being served. The group began to gather a little after Roderich and Vash got to the table first, but Alfred and Kiku didn't appear, and neither did Gilbert.

Roderich was really starting to get worried. He hoped that Gilbert would be back soon, hopefully by tonight, or–

Roderich was brought from his thoughts when Kiku appeared at the table, his dark bangs swept to one side unintentionally, and his face was rather shiny, as if he was sweating. His brown eyes were wide as he looked at Mathias, Francis and Vash, trying to catch his breath. "A-Alfred-san... He-he's gone..." he breathed exhaustedly after a moment.

Roderich's eyebrows drew together worriedly and Mathias leaned over the table toward him. "What happened?" he asked quietly, his face more serious than I'd ever seen. Everyone turned their attention toward Kiku, who, blushing slightly at the attention, sighed and sat at the table.

"…A-Alfred-san was getting up and getting dressed after waking me, and a few Krieger***** came into the tent and just dr-dragged him out, yelling at him... they… they didn't notice me, so they left me alone, and they dragged Alfred a-away..." Kiku rambled quite worriedly, biting his lip when he was done, looking to each face at the table for answers or advice.

When none came, though, he let his head drop to the table in defeat. "…First Gilbert and now Alfred…" Arthur muttered softly, and I turned to look at him.

"What about Gilbert?" I asked, leaning over to see the Brit better.

"Gilbert's been gone," he muttered, raising his cold, hopeless green gaze to meet Roderich's own violet eyes. "It's obvious he was taken too. Gilbert's never away for that long," he shook his head slightly and went silent. Roderich looked to other faces at the table that said the same thing. Vash touched his shoulder.

Vash's green eyes were dull but carefully focused on Roderich's face. "…I think Arthur's right, Roderich…" he mumbled. "…But don't think that that's the only thing that could have happened. He could be fine, too…"

* * *

Almost a full week with no word from Alfred or Gilbert. One day, though, Arthur didn't show up; Francis was making a big deal out of it, much worse than Kiku had. He'd flopped around and sprawled out on the table dramatically, whining. Just the other day, Mathias didn't come to get breakfast, either. Lukas seemed numb, but all he did was tell them that Mathias wasn't there when he woke.

Roderich had a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

Another week, and Mathias, Francis, Kiku and Lukas were all gone. Nobody appeared for any meals anymore, everyone was gone. Vash was the only one left other than Roderich, and Roderich was now relying completely on Vash, never once leaving his side, except times they had to separate for hygiene issues.

Roderich didn't like the awkward silences that made their way into the atmosphere when Vash and himself talked about something important, so, he tried to fill the days with light conversation, and found that Vash was only so quiet because he was naturally defensive and didn't want to get pulled into things.

He found that the Swiss man was kind, once you got the chance to know him.

He was nice, and Roderich found himself up at night talking to him quietly in their tent, until morning, one day, that is, until Vash's lips made contact with Roderich's own.

Roderich had jumped a bit and pulled away quickly, making some excuse to leave the tent and run of. _Nein… It's wrong, don't you see, Roderich. You're not a homosexual. Not one of _them_. Just tell him that and you'll be fine, _he told himself, but he froze when he bumped into someone. Roderich looked down and blushed at his stupid accident. "_E-es tut mir leid_," he mumbled softly.

It was a polish man he'd bumped into, and he looked up when the man started stringing together words in Polish, and he brushed his blonde hair away when another man came up behind him, telling him to calm down, in Polish, until he looked at Rderich and paused. In his emerald eyes, though, the expression was clear as day to Roderich – recognition. Roderich swallowed at the brunette hissed something in the shorter Pole's ear, eyes trained on Roderich, before they grabbed him and drug the Austrian away.

* * *

**Soo. Sorry for the short-ish chapter, as in dialogue and whatnot.. I just have a lot to deal with at the moment. Most of it is my drama shet. I'm getting more scenes and monologues to do and whatnot, on top of all my other homework shit. So, I've been busy, and I apologize. I'll try to get another chapter up by next week.**

**And keep in mind, this takes place in Germany, though near Denmark, most of the language is German, unless I say otherwise, even if I slip German phrases into their conversations.**

**BUT I have plans for this fic, now. Asdfgkfjhgldt; Lots of depressing plans, and, if you guys are wondering, I have a vague reason for this war stuff (AND by the way, this is a modern-ish thing. It's not like the Holocaust type war. Technology has begun to come out of it's shell a bit). Just so you know c: Welp. Leave me reviews and I'll continue writing…~ Wanna see more angst and drama, **_**and maybe fluff**_**, then I COMMAND YOU TO REVIEW. ^.^ **

**Oh. *Krieger literally means 'warrior' in German, but I'm using it as a new name for soldiers. You know. Like Fraikor and Nazis.**

**(–_Es tut mir leid_ – I'm sorry, I am sorry )**


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